Coming up is the thirty first part to Diane Richardson’s “When I Met My Hubby,” but first a friendly reminder that May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and Best Day’s origin embodies the holiday perfectly. Especially since this was founded after our fearless leader Benita had a heartfelt conversation with her grandmother in Hong Kong. And in these crazy times, it's more important than ever to support Asian run businesses and Asian run non-profits. You can donate, subscribe to our newsletter, send a note to our older buds, or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. If you want to volunteer yourself, then email us at info@bestdayofmylifesofar.org. And if you know older buds with stories, then you or they can submit them through our portal right here.
In honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we'd like to share a few stories from our Asian older buds, Philip and Christie, about the values they brought over from their home.
Philip Pai, Philadelphia
03.12.2020
Story About Buddhism
When I was young, I followed my relatives to worship about a Temple, a Buddhist Temple. Actually, I am not a believer in Buddhism. Recently I got some information from Buddhists. They said that Buddhism is a faith that was founded by Siddhartha Gautama (The Buddha) more than 2500 years ago in India with about 470 million followers. Scholars consider Buddhism one of the major world religions.
The founder of Buddhism Siddhartha Gautama who was born into a wealthy family as a prince in present day Nepal. The religious former Buddha is considered a extraordinary man but not a god. All the Buddhists live by five moral precepts which prohibits:
• Killing living things
• Taking what is not given
• Sexual misconduct
• Lying
• Using drugs or alcohol
Types of Buddhism
• Theravada Buddhism
Prevalent in Thailand, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Laos and Burma
• Mahayana Buddhism
Prevalent in China, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Vietnam
• Tibetan Buddhism
Buddhism is different from Christian or Catholic or Muslim. They think if human beings do something good or best in the world everyone will become a Buddha. So, there are many gods in the world. So, if you love people, help people you can become a Buddha or god.Christie (Chong) Yang
10/04/202
Missing My Mom in China During the Pandemic
Last time I visited my mom in China was August 2017. I spent the entire month taking care of her and myself as well. I was planning to go back to China in 2020 but never imagined the devastating Covid-19 came in which turned into the most horrific experience in the modern era throughout the entire planet.
Since the Covid-19 started in Wuhan, China the virus spread too fast to stop, the city was shut down immediately on January 20 when it was Chinese New Year Day. Millions of Chinese were forced at the transportation like train stations, bus stations on their way to visit families for once-a-year family reunion. China started to force the “Zero Police” entirely throughout the whole country, no one was allowed to be remote anywhere but to isolate at home.
As for people like me abroad, we’re not allowed to travel to China to visit families. A lot of Chinese like me whose parents are old seniors, majority of them were sick and need care but we are not allowed to visit or even pay the respect of those who passed away. As cruel as it has been for adult children who live abroad not able to pay respect to say goodbye to their elder parents before departing to another world, most of them suffered mental health in depression and grieving. As a profession psychotherapist myself, I have counseled more patients who are Chinese Americans’ or Chinese Immigrants’ grief in the loss of their parents and in guilt for regretting not visiting them prior to Covid-19 attacking the world.
Last night I talked to my mom through video chat, the social app WeChat with my younger brother’s cell phone. I saw mom was in tears. I was worried about whether she would survive this winter since yesterday the weather has changed much colder. Mom is 94 years old and I’m grateful she is in fair health. I told her I will see her at Chinese New Year.
We now return to our continuing story, “When I Met My Hubby, Part 31.”
Diane Richardson
11.22.2022
When I Met My Hubby Part 31
Today I’m going to tell you about my friend named Gert. Gert is from Stuttgart, Germany. She is a tall blond with blue eyes. She married a black soldier in Germany and he brought her back here in the states. After a short time here he was being teased and harassed by his friends and family for marrying a white woman. So, he threw Gert out of his house.
I met Gert at the neighborhood corner store where she rented a room over the store. We became friends and she would often visit me. I had a neighbor named Rich who was interested in Gert. He would always come over when he would see her. Rich is black and his wife is white. They had no children. They had been married for ten years trying to conceive, to no avail. Fertility doctors and all.
Rich and Gert started to have an affair. He told her his situation and told her “Do not get pregnant.” Gert told me “I’m going to get pregnant and give him something he wants most in the world.” She figured he might be shooting blanks since his wife never got pregnant. So she started messing around with another back guy, and after three months she became pregnant.
She told Rich the good news. He was so happy; he was elated after all these years he’ll finally have a child. He told Gert that he would have to tell his wife as the child would pe part of their life. So, he did tell his wife. She was crushed. She asked him, “How do you know the child is yours?” He answered “Because I’ve been having an affair with her for a while and I know and trust her”. The wife said “O.K. We will take care of her during her pregnancy, but we’re going to have a D.N.A. test when the child is born. If this is your child he or she will have the best life and education.”
The child is born. Rich told her “We’re going to have the test.” Gert fought hard and long against it. Rich asked her what’s the problem. Gert said “It’s your bitch of a wife that’s putting you up to this.” That’s when Rich first started having his doubts about being the child’s father. He told her if there is no test, there is no more us.
The child is born, the tests are done. Rich is not the child’s father. The end of Rich and Gert’s relationship. The end of Rich’s marriage.
If you want to transcribe for Best Day, then email us at info@bestdayofmylifesofar.org. You can also share our older buds' adventures by donating to Best Day, subscribing to our newsletter, sending a note to our older buds, or following us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. And if you or the older buds have any stories of Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage, then you or they can submit stories through our portal right here. We're especially interested to stories from Black older buds, but we're always looking for stories from older buds of color, older buds with disabilities, LGBTQIA+ older buds, older buds of any gender or sex, older buds of any religion, and older buds who just plain break the mold.
And don't forget to maintain contact with the older buds in your life. If you can't be there in person, please call them, email them, or message them on social media. And if they're using teleconferencing or remote events for the first time, give them a call and help them set things up. Check in on them to see how well they're getting used to these programs. Buy them a computer or an internet package if they don't have one of their own. It's a human right, after all.
Curated by Caitlin Cieri